First Baptist Church was a historic

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

located in the Gainsboro neighborhood of

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

. It was built in 1898–1900, and was a large six-bay nave-plan brick church with Romanesque and Gothic detailing. It featured a clipped gable roof and a front bell tower. A one-story Parish Hall was built in 1936. First Baptist Church occupied the building until moving to a new sanctuary in 1982. The church was destroyed by fire in April 1995. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> The controversial Reverend Richard R. Jones was the first minister of the church, and guided it through the early stages of planning and construction between 1882 and 1904.Kern, John. 2015. "Rev. Richard Jones, Activist, Orator, Founder of Black First Baptist Church, 1882-1904." Historical Society of Western Virginia. Journal. Volume XXII (1), 2015. Page 54. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1990 and delisted in 2001.

References

External links

First Baptist Church Gainsboro website
African-American history of Virginia Former National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Churches completed in 1900 20th-century Baptist churches in the United States Baptist churches in Virginia Churches in Roanoke, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Roanoke, Virginia {{Virginia-church-stub